Emaar blames DDA, others for delay in CWG work

Stung by the government's decision to confiscate its Rs 183-crore bank guarantee, Emaar MGF has put the blame for delay in completion of work at the Commonwealth Games (CWG) Village on DDA which contested the private developer's contention.

Emaar MGF has asked the government to revoke its order to confiscate the Rs 183-crore bank guarantee, of which Rs 90 crore has already been encashed by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA).

"If there is anything incomplete it has direct link with incomplete work of DDA/their other agencies... The project developer cannot be held responsible for failure part of other agencies deployed by you (DDA) for water supply, sewerage, boundary wall, electrical and cabling work etc," Emaar had said in a letter to DDA after handing over the flats to the Organising Committee.

Delayed completion of the CWG village and lack of other facilities had caused a lot of embarrassment to the government as many agencies were working in the village even after athletes and guests had arrived for the games last month.

When contacted an Emaar spokesperson confirmed that the company had sent a communication to the concerned DDA officials from time to time.

In the case of project milestones, the builder had completed all milestones relating to completion of all towers housing 1,168 flats and the same were handed over to the Organising Committee in August itself within the time schedule, Emaar MGF officials said and termed confiscation its bank guarantee as "unholy penalty".

A senior DDA official said all the milestones, including land scaping and road construction, were linked with the completion of the Village project and they were clearly spelt out in the agreement. These milestones were to be met by the the developers who were developing the project, they added.

Since there was a time constraint, timelines were drawn as part of milestones so that developers completed the project in time. So, it was developers' responsibility to meet these milestones because they constructing the project, DDA officials said.

Emaar MGF officials said that the CWG project would have been projected as a successful Public-Private-Partnership but the blame game between the two could spoil the party.

The Urban Development Ministry on October 21 ordered confiscation of Rs 183 crore furnished by Emaar-MGF as bank guarantee and initiation of legal action against it for recovery of other expenditure for "deficiencies" and "delays" in developing the Commonwealth Games Village.

Of the Rs 183-crore bank guarantee, DDA has already encashed Rs 90 crore and the remaining Rs 93 crore could not be credited as the Delhi High Court ordered that status quo be maintained.